NEWS                                                   October 7,1996    
                                    
          FCC CHAIRMAN HUNDT URGES OPEN COMPETITION AND CHOICE
                                IN CHINA;
           URGES USE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN DEVELOPING AREAS

     FCC Chairman Reed Hundt today urged China's leaders to further
"the goal of open competition and choice in telecommunications." 
Hundt's remarks were in a speech to the Center for Information
Infrastructure and Economic Development, in Beijing, China. 

     Chairman Hundt also urged China "to invent a way to use modern
communications technologies to educate children in developing areas." 
He said, "Might it involve finding a way to place a computer in every
village school hooked up to the internet by wireless technologies? Might
it involve finding a way to place a television in every village school and
then ensuring that some of the capacity of direct-to-home satellite
providers is devoted to educational materials?" 

     Hundt said that through telecommunications advances "China can
discover a way to bring to all the benefits of education." Hundt said
satellite technology "holds tremendous promise for a country as large
and geographically diverse as China" by "bringing information and
education to any corner of China without the need for the very
expensive installation of wireline networks."

     Hundt said, "A number of new mobile satellite systems are
cooperating with Chinese partners to bring mobile satellite service to
China. For these systems to succeed and for China to benefit from their
promise, the key will be -- as with other sectors in telecom -- to allow
for competition, to allow multiple operators to compete and strive and
allow consumers to choose the best.  I also hope China will explore the
possibility of authorizing multiple, competing broadcasters.  Countries
that have followed this advice have been pleased with the results.
Independent television stations, and the competition between them and
between state-owned entities, have generated many new jobs and first-
rate local programming," he said.
     
     "Nowhere in the world is there so much opportunity to raise living
standards and bond society together through the communications
revolution than exist here in China," Hundt said.  "I recognize that
China has unique challenges as it moves toward competition and
choice," he said, and added, "We from the United States are hoping to
see the information highway become a bridge from our land to this
land."
    
                                 - FCC -
News Media Contact: David Fiske 202-418-0500